You and I both know that the absolute highest yield and most popular question from schools is the “why our school” question. You’ll encounter variances of it, but this is going to show up in every single medical school interview, on the AMCAS secondary essays, and on every campus visit you go to. You’ll need a good answer to grab the attention of these schools. After all, what school would want someone who doesn’t know why they want to be there, right? Let’s get into it.
Why do schools ask “Why us?”
Well, this one is one I asked a hundred times because I had to answer it for the 100th time. At some point, this gets real old real quick as I’m sure you know now or will know.
Anyway, why do they ask? Well, it’s important for the school to know what your motivations are. If you were a school, wouldn’t you find it important that the students at least care about what you’re all about?
For the purposes of your applications, they want to know what part of their program you like whether its the curriculum, their research, a specific focus of theirs like rural health, a 3 year program, MD/PHD program, their high ranking in X field, how you lived there your whole life, their free clinics, your spouse attends or works, there, etc.
These are all great aspects to focus on and I encourage you to sit down and think about it. What about this school are they known for? What special programs do they have? Are there any specific patient populations they focus on? What research do they have or not have? What mentors are there and are in the field you want to go into?
If not any of this, look at the area around the school. Does it fit your hobbies? Does it have the world’s greatest concentration of rock climbing gyms? Maybe your thing is hiking and fishing and that’s one of the activities on your application. Check if there are multiple lakes, rivers, or ponds nearby.
Another great strategy is to think about your future specialty or research focus. Does your application have a ton of research on cardiovascular disease? Well, at schools where they are famous for and prioritize cardiovascular research, you should play this up big time. Do the same for any specialty or field of research you want.
Anyway, this is what they’re looking for. They know they are going to make you a doctor and they know you’ll learn how to take care of patients. It’s expected you’ll know this and graduate in 3 or 4 years. Don’t tell them they’ll make you the best doctor ever or they’ll give you great connections. They all do and they’re probably not more likely to make you the BEST than any other school in my opinion.
My experience getting asked the question
I got asked this question every single interview. EVERY ONE! It almost was funny how it became a game to see how many things I could find out about the school that would apply to my career. Every secondary essay except a handful had the question.
When I answered it, I really tried to tell them how their program would set me up for a better career and give me a unique experience that I couldn’t get anywhere else. I’d usually go through their core research strengths listed on the website and see if it either applied to the career I wanted one day, or if it matched prior research I’ve done in the past. That was an easy connection.
Other than research, I also usually picked some sort of patient population the school wanted to serve. If it was a big rural focus, I tailored my why them to that and wanting to be in rural medicine and health education.
For a lot of them in my home state, I made the argument that the school was close to family and that they were my biggest support structure that I thought would help me get through school. They value this a lot at state schools or the ones trying to serve their state. They want to know that you’ll stay there after graduating and what better way to show that then telling them your whole family and support structure is there?
What are medical schools looking for when they ask why us?
They just want to know how you will fit and help contribute to their school’s mission. If they are trying to address rural health, they want to hear that you want rural and want to be one of the core family specialties. If they are focused on public health, they’ll want to know something about your reasons for public health. If they are a state school with the goal of serving their state, then they want to hear that you lived here x years, want to raise your family here, and practice in X town the rest of your life. They just want a fit for their long term goals and you need to find how to look at yourself and your application and see how you can fit that.
What should you say and how can you be different from others?
Being different than others can be good or bad. Bad ways would be NOT fitting the school’s mission or contradicting it completely. Good ways would be to truly connect your personal experiences with the school’s mission. Did you serve in a rural county or grow up rural and this is a rural-focused school? Explain that and say you never want to leave that setting. Did you lead a community service organization and this school wants to serve underserved populations? Tell them all about this and how you need a school that will support you in continuing this work. Tell them about your hobbies somewhere else in the application and then tell them about how amazing all of the hiking and fishing spots are around the school and how you can find happiness outside of the schoolwork thanks to those. You get the point. Tailor this response to YOU and make it known how their school helps YOU in a way no other school can.
Why us medical school interview and essay template
- State what you love about their school
- Name a experience and how it applies to what you love about their school
- Point out if the school is the best in the nation in your interest
- Mention any other clinic or point of interest
- Give another personal experience
- Talk about if you have ties to the state or family there
- mention any attractions around the school that fit your hobbies or interests
- finish out by pointing out this is the only school that fits every aspect of your interests, career intentions, and research etc
An example why our medical school essay
I am drawn to the Center of Genomic Medicine (CGM) and the Health Clinic for the Homeless. My computational genetics project in the X program emphasized the increasing importance of using computational methods to understand disease and inspired me to continue researching genetic factors of disease throughout my career. The school of medicine’s CGM is one of the best in the nation directly fitting my research interests and providing ample opportunity to become a leader within the field.
While volunteering with the Resource Center which houses residents without permanent housing, I’ve shared many moments of joy celebrating with residents who were just placed at the center. While I will continue spending time with residents, I want to give them proper healthcare as I attain my medical education and beyond. The Clinic for the Homeless meets this desire and allows me to continue working with *State’s* homeless population.
Additionally, The *Medical School* is close to my family. Family is the strongest support system in my life and in *Med school’s city*, I will be able to see my family regularly throughout my medical education. I was also excited about *Name of* Lake and the *Name of* River in *Med school’s city*. I am an avid outdoorsman having grown up near Lake *Name of lake* and the *Name of* Mountains and spend many of my weekends hiking and fishing. I can see myself perfectly at home as I’ll be able to continue in all my clinical, research, volunteering, and personal interests while also having my family a short drive away. No other school of medicine provides the opportunity to fulfill all of my interests in their entirety like I can at the *Med school’s name* which has led to my application.